Want to replace him with his 73 year old brother...Saudi Arabia: Eight of the 12 surviving sons of country's monarch support move to oust King SalmanOct 24, 2015, Eight of the 12 surviving sons of Saudi Arabia's founding monarch are supporting a move to oust King Salman, 79, the country's ailing ruler, and replace him with his 73-year-old brother, according to a dissident prince.

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The prince also claims that a clear majority of the country's powerful Islamic clerics, known as the Ulama, would back a palace coup to oust the current King and install Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, a former Interior Minister, in his place. "The Ulama and religious people prefer Prince Ahmed - not all of them, but 75 per cent," said the prince, himself a grandson of King Ibn Saud, who founded the ruling dynasty in 1932. Support from the clerics would be vital for any change of monarch, since in the Saudi system only they have the power to confer religious and therefore political legitimacy on the leadership.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz

The revelation suggests there is increasing pressure within the normally secretive Saudi royal family to bring to a head the internal power struggle that has erupted since King Salman inherited the throne at the beginning of this year. The prince, who cannot be named for security reasons, is the author of two recently published letters calling for the royal family to replace the current Saudi leadership. In 1964 King Saud was finally deposed after a long power struggle, when the majority of senior royal family members and the Kingdom's religious establishment spoke with one voice and withdrew their support. The prince says something similar is going to happen again soon. "Either the King will leave Saudi Arabia, like King Saud, and he will be very respected inside and outside the country," he told The Independent. "Alternatively Prince Ahmed will become Crown Prince, but with control of and responsibility for the whole country - the economy, oil, armed forces, national guard, interior ministry, secret service, in fact everything from A to Z."

Unhappiness at King Salman's own diminishing faculties - he is reported to be suffering from Alzheimer's disease - has been compounded by his controversial appointments, the continuing and costly war in Yemen and the recent Hajj disaster. Earlier this week the International Monetary Fund warned that Saudi Arabia may run out of financial assets within five years unless the government sharply curbs its spending, because of a combination of low oil prices and the economic impact of regional wars. The King's appointment of his favourite son, Mohammed bin Salman, 30, to the novel post of Deputy Crown Prince in April, and the decision to make him Defence Minister - enabling him to launch a proxy war in Yemen against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who forced the pro-Saudi former President to flee - have heightened tensions. He is said to have assumed too much power and wealth since being elevated to this position. "Any paper or phone call to his father goes through him," said the prince. The current Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, 56, a nephew of King Salman, is also unpopular.

Corruption Shakedown nets $107B...Saudi Arabia to recover $107B in anti-corruption purgeJan. 30, 2018 -- Saudi Arabian authorities reached agreements Tuesday to recover more than $107 billion from royal family members and businessmen detained as part of an anti-corruption crackdown.

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Attorney General Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb announced the end of the three-month investigation involving 325 people detained in the Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh, where their personal finances were examined by forensic accountants.

The $107 billion figure includes real estate, commercial entities, securities, cash and other assets. Authorities refused to settle with 56 people "due to other pending criminal cases, in order to continue the investigations process."

Saudi Arabia reached deals to recover more than $107 billion from royal family members and businessmen detained as part of an anti-corruption crackdown launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The Ritz Carlton has been cleared of all detainees, but the attorney general didn't specify where the remaining detainees are being held. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world's richest men, was released from detention Saturday after state prosecutors approved the 62-year-old's unspecified financial settlement.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of King Salman, launched the crackdown in November, arresting Prince Alwaleed along with 10 other princes and several hundred politicians and wealthy businessmen.

Where is the king's mother?...Saudi Crown Prince Is Hiding His Mother, U.S. Officials SayMarch 15, 2018 • They say it shows his willingness to solidify his role as Saudi Arabia's next king. U.S. intelligence analysts reportedly think he believes his mother opposes his rise to the throne.

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Saudi Arabia's future king has hidden the whereabouts of his mother from his father and the public, according to U.S. officials. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has given his father, King Salman, a number of different explanations for her absence, say 14 current and former U.S. officials who spoke to NBC on condition of anonymity. Among the fabrications he is said to have created is that she is receiving medical treatment abroad. Years of intelligence have led U.S. officials to believe that the Saudi heir, who is now 32, is concealing his mother's location. The officials say that the crown prince was motivated by a belief that she opposed his ascendancy to the throne and that she would use her position as King Salman's third wife to prevent it. One source close to the royal family told NBC that the prince was concerned that his mother was trying to "empower her siblings." That allegedly caused a rift between the prince and his mother years ago.

Little information is publicly available about the mother-son relationship. Crown Prince Mohammed is her firstborn son, and according to Western diplomats who spoke to the New York Times in 2015, she "worked hard to promote him as his father's successor." "He is her eldest," a longtime associate told the publication. "For her, he is her glory at the end of the day." Officials first assessed that Princess Fahda bint Falah Al Hathleen, the crown prince's mother, was being hidden during the Obama administration. At a meeting at the White House in September 2015, King Salman reinforced that assessment when he told then-President Barack Obama that his wife was in New York receiving medical care. Obama did not notify him that the princess was not in New York, officials told NBC.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a meeting in November 2017 in Riyadh. U.S. officials say he has hidden his mother.

They also said that in early 2016, the U.S. picked up communications in which the crown prince discussed his efforts to separate his mother from his father without the latter's knowledge. The crown prince's mother wouldn't be the first Saudi royal whose movements were restricted since the prince swept into power in June 2017. He unseated his cousin, then-Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who was confined to his Jiddah palace with guards loyal to the crown prince, reported the Wall Street Journal. In November, ministers and princes were arrested and placed under house arrest at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh. The Saudi Embassy in Washington denied to NBC the claims that the princess is separated from her husband or under house arrest.

Officials said their assessment is based on human sources, intercepts and information gleaned from countries that shared with the United States. NBC's report comes at a time when the conservative country has taken steps to offer women more rights. The kingdom is lifting a ban on women driving, and for the first time women are also able to join the military. The crown prince's Vision 2030 for the country includes a goal of bringing more women into the workforce, "from 22% to 30%." King Salman, now 82, has said that he misses his wife. But by secretly keeping her out of sight, his son is showing a willingness to remove what he perceives as obstacles to his role as future king, current and former officials tell NBC. President Trump will host the crown prince at the White House on March 20.